Tunisian troops fire tear gas at protesters

SILIANA, Tunisia (Reuters) - Tunisian security forces fired tear gas and live rounds into the air on Saturday to try to disperse thousands of protesters in a town that has seen days of clashes over economic hardship.

National guard forces belonging to the Interior Ministry fired tear gas and rounds from inside armoured personnel carriers in the town of Siliana, southwest of Tunis.

“Get out, get out!”, “With our blood and soul we sacrifice ourselves for you, Siliana” and “Siliana will be the graveyard of the Ennahda party” the protesters, who numbered about 3,000, chanted while throwing stones at security forces.

Police chased protesters down streets.

The Islamist Ennahda party that won Tunisia’s first post-Arab Spring election last year is struggling to revive the economy of the north African state due to lower trade with the crisis-hit euro zone.

Disputes also continue between secularists and hardline Salafi Islamists over the future direction of the country.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki asked the Islamist Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali in an address on state television on Friday to appoint a new cabinet in response to the protests.

On Saturday, Jebali seemed poised to remove the controversial Siliana governor to ease tensions. A statement on state news agency TAP said a deputy had been put in charge of the governorate’s affairs pending a “final decision”.

The protests are the fiercest since Salafis attacked the U.S. embassy in Tunis in September over an anti-Islam film made in California. Four people were killed in that violence.

The state news agency said the government had decided to offer a job to all those who were injured or families who lost members in the Tunisian uprising that began two years ago, in an apparent effort to placate discontent.

In Tunis, hundreds of secularists protested in front of the Interior Ministry, demanding the resignation of the minister, and called on authorities to stop the violence in Siliana.

CONTROVERSIAL TACTICS

Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Friday authorities must stop using firearms against demonstrators, in some of her harshest criticisms of the government elected after veteran ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled was overthrown in January last year.

The tactics used to put down the protests have stirred anger among secular politicians in Tunisia, who say the new government is adopting the kind of harsh policing employed by Ben Ali.

At least 252 people have been wounded by birdshot, according to state news agency TAP. Medical sources say 17 have been blinded. A Reuters witness did not see police using birdshot on Saturday.

“Authorities must respect the right to peaceful assembly and ensure that the police adhere to international standards on use of force and firearms,” Amnesty International said in a statement on Friday.

The government has formed an independent commission to investigate the latest unrest, TAP said. It also reported clashes in the town of Barqo near Siliana on Saturday, saying youths attacked three police vehicles.

It was in another provincial Tunisian town, Sidi Bouzid, that a street seller set himself alight in 2010 in despair at the confiscation of his fruit cart.